BOSTON – Gov. Deval Patrick has intervened in Gaming Commission matters for the first time, urging the panel to grant the city of Boston’s 11th-hour request to postpone a hearing originally scheduled for Thursday morning.

Commissioners unanimously voted Thursday to reschedule the hearing, which will decide Boston’s request to be designated a host community for proposed casinos in neighboring Revere and Everett, to next Thursday, May 8. They suggested the delay could increase the chances of Boston negotiating an agreement with casino developers Wynn Resorts and Mohegan Sun.

“Discussions with the casino proponents have been ongoing,” said Kate Norton, a spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Martin Walsh.

If the city is granted host-community status, Boston voters could potentially block the projects through a local referendum.

Wynn attorney Tony Starr, who said he hadn’t heard anything about a potential postponement until the meeting began, objected to the delay. He said nothing has changed between Wynn and the city of Boston.

“From Wynn’s perspective, we have had no new conversations with the city, nor is there any new information…” he said.

Opening Thursday’s Gaming Commission meeting, chairman Stephen Crosby announced that he received a letter from Walsh’s legal team at about 4 p.m. Wednesday asking that the hearing be postponed for at least one week to allow the city time to determine its next action and to review new information that may be forthcoming. Shortly after receiving the letter, Crosby said he got a phone call from the governor.

“He felt it was in everyone’s best interest to have a negotiated process,” Crosby said. “He had talked to Mayor Walsh and believes the parties are close enough that it is worth giving the parties another week.”

Crosby said it was the first time he had spoken to Patrick since being appointed to chair the commission two years ago.

“I think it was well within the use of the good offices of the governor to weigh in on a procedural matter like this,” Crosby said. “As I said, he has been totally fastidious on not weighing in on any of the substantive issues. He’s never mentioned any favored candidacies.”

A spokesman for Patrick said Walsh called the governor Wednesday and asked him to support Boston’s request for an extension in the hopes that more time would allow the parties to reach a fair agreement without acrimony.

The Mohegan Sun proposal was originally pitched as a project that would sit in both the Revere and East Boston portions of Suffolk Downs. After East Boston voters rejected the proposal, Mohegan Sun reconfigured the plan so the casino would sit only on the Revere side of the city line.

Boston has argued, however, that the Suffolk Downs horse track, which is located on the East Boston side, would be an amenity that is fundamentally linked to a casino on the premises.

Boston has also argued that an Everett casino would use Boston’s infrastructure and rely on the city as an attraction.

“These are both Boston casinos being marketed as Boston projects,” said Matt Cameron, who spoke Thursday on behalf of casino opposition group No Eastie Casino.